


And Baby Makes Four

by sarcastic_fi



Series: Marvel Modern ReMix (no powers) [3]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Police, Bisexual Female Character, Canon Disabled Character, Depression, Exhibitionism, F/M, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Multi, Non-traditional family dynamics, Pansexual Character, Past unrequited love, Polyamory, Pregnancy, Straight Male Character, Unplanned Pregnancy, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-29 01:06:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5110808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fi/pseuds/sarcastic_fi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy gets pregnant; only thing is she isn't sure if Daniel Sousa or Jack Thompson is the father. Time for a re-examination of her relationship with both boys, theirs with each other, and maybe they can figure out a way to make each other whole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Peggy took a deep breath and opened the polished wooden door of Captain Thompson’s office, shutting it behind her quickly and turning to face the puzzled expressions of her two paramours Jack Thompson and Daniel Sousa. They were sat next to each other on the surface of Jack’s desk, Jack had his arms crossed in an aggressive show of insecure manliness and Daniel’s hands cupped his bad knee, unconsciously soothing the permanent injury. 

“Boys,” Peggy began, “I’m pregnant, and I don’t know which one of you is the father.”

“You slept with him?” Twin exclamations of incredulous disgust as Jack and Danny glared at each other.

Peggy rolled her eyes. “Obviously, I’m hardly claiming the next messiah is growing in my womb.”

“Peg! How could you,” Danny asked her mournfully, betrayal etched on his handsome features.

“It was all really quite simple,” she advised, more casually than she felt. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m not the whore you’re currently accusing me of being. Neither of you had any real claim on my fidelity. You-” she gestured towards Jack, “waiting for me to get drunk at a Christmas party and then ever so gallantly offering to let me stay at yours because you simply cannot allow me to leave your sight considering the condition I’m in!” She rolled her eyes.

“You weren’t even drunk at all!” Jack figured out, sounding more betrayed by this than the idea of her having sex with two men in such a short amount of time. 

“I had two glasses of wine and caught my heal on a step; suddenly you were all over me with supposed concern for my safety. Honestly, Jack!” 

He had the decency to look abashed at having his foolishness revealed. If Peggy remembered correctly Jack had actually been more intoxicated than she had, which was why she had initially agreed to escort him back to his house. At least then she could ensure he wasn’t getting some other poor unsuspecting girl into trouble. Unfortunately her, her will power to leave began wavering about the same time he started admitting how much he respected and admired her work ethic while kneeling half naked in front of her, his breath moist on the silver of flesh that the slits in her dress revealed, just above the hip bone. He had been rather endearing down there, some of his best work she'd wager.

“I thought we were going steady,” Daniel interjected. “And I took you out on our first date in October so if you slept with him in December that means you cheated on me.”

“Oh we were going steady were we? Steady into what, Daniel, old age? At the point in December when I allowed Jack to seduce me, you had taken me on precisely seven dates during which you were the perfect gentleman and always walked me to my door, at which point you would nod your head at me and leave. Not even an aborted peck on the cheek. I thought for a while you were under the impression I was your grandmother. Until New Year’s Eve, when I finally got board of waiting and decided to take things into my own hands, so to speak.” Actually it was her lips that had done all the work. She smiled fondly at the memory. “It’s 2017, Danny, not 1947!”

Jack let out a slow lewd wolf whistle. “December 23rd and another guy on the 31st. Peggy got game.” If it had been a man Jack had been addressing then the comment would have been a compliment, however since Peggy was decidedly female he had injected the phrase with as much derision he could muster while staring at her breasts.

“You’ll have to take a DNA test,” Danny declared, elbowing Jack in the ribs to focus his attention back on the current situation.

“Yeah, do that!” He agreed loudly, pointing a finger in her direction. 

“I most certainly will not. If my child chooses to know the identity of her genetic father than she-or-he may do so as and when she-or-he is capable of making that decision. Until then I require medical histories of at least three generations in your families. I expect both reports on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

“You do realise I’m your boss, not the other way around?” Jack said, disgruntled at being ordered around by a female subordinate.

“Yes, I did get the memo, Jack, pregnancy has not addled by brain.” The promotion had been recent and sudden, and Jack did like to remind them all every so often. “That reminds me, I won’t be in for the rest of the afternoon because I have an appointment with my gynaecologist” She gathered her purse and keys before heading for the door.

“Peg, wait! One of us should go with you!” Daniel said, jumping up from the desk and wincing as he landed awkwardly on him bum leg.

“One of us?” Jack frowned.

“Me. I’ll go. You shouldn’t be alone,” he said softly.

“Honestly Daniel, I’ll be fine. Besides, what would you do? Look panicked at the thought of vaginal mucus and placenta?”

He winced and stuttered out something she assumed he thought was reassuring. 

“No,” she interrupted. “Best you stay here and help Jack out. No need to make us even more short staffed. Bye, boys!” Peggy disappeared, satisfied that it had gone as well as it could have. No one threw any punches and Jack hadn’t offered to marry her out of obligation and fear. 

*

“You think she means it?” Daniel spoke into the silence Peggy had left them in.

“That’s she’s pregnant? Yeah, Sousa, I’m pretty sure she means it,” he drawled.

“Not that! That she’s gonna do it all alone.”

“No way. Raise a baby all by herself? Not a chance. After all, when does Carter never not need our help?”

Daniel raised his eye brows at Jack’s self-absorption, and the double negative that was closer to the truth than the intention behind Jack’s grammatically incorrect sentence. It wasn’t so much that Jack couldn’t accept a woman on the police force, more that he had trouble with the idea of a woman he was attracted to being able to out shoot him. Daniel didn't have that problem. Of course, he had a lot of other problems, ones that if Jack knew he'd undoubtedly lose the man's respect. It was hard being disabled and confined to paperwork, but the pity was occasionally balanced out by the fact some people remembered he'd been injured saving lives. If they knew that the physical wound wasn't the only one he carried around then even the grudging respect shown to him as a 'hero' would disappear. When that happened Daniel feared the voice at the back of his mind telling him he was worthless would win.

“What are we going to do about it then?” Daniel said out loud, more to himself than in hopes of getting an answer.

“We?” Jack repeated, standing up from the desk to face him. “No, this is on Carter. When she gets her act together and starts making sense then we can have a rational discussion about what to do. Until then there is no 'we', and by that I mean no me and her, no you and her, and certainly no me, her and you.”

Daniel said “I wasn't suggesting there was a you-me-and-her,” at the same time Jack was overriding him with a “now get out of my office.”

“You're such an ass, Jack!” 

“That's 'you're such an ass, sir!'” Jack reminded him as Daniel let the door swing close behind him. The eyes of thirty cops burned holes in the back of Daniel's head as he made his way to his desk. He couldn't wait to see what the rumour mill made of this!

*

Alone in the waiting room of her Doctor's, Peggy finally allowed herself to exhale all the nerves and tension she’d held in during the confrontation with Jack and Daniel. She'd given a performance that Angie would be jealous of. Despite the shiny armoured exterior she liked to promote, underneath she was just as vulnerable as any other human on the Earth. She had the same fears that everyone else did, and despite her rocky relationship with authority at the precinct she did desire Jack’s respect. It had been hard to confess her indiscretion and the results, especially when it meant the possibility of sacrificing Jack’s respect and hurting Daniel’s feelings. She cared a great deal for both of them, as friends and lovers, but it wasn’t what she would call love. Only once had she felt love, and when it hadn’t been returned the pain and humiliation she’d felt had been strong enough to damage her self-image and self-respect for years.

Her phone buzzed loudly in her pocket, jostling her out of her sombre mood. A quick glance told her it was her sister Sharon. She'd read it later. Peggy wasn't close to Sharon, although she regretted that especially now that it would be convenient to have a close female companion. They had been born to an English father and an American mother, Peggy was older by twenty-one months which was why when their parents divorced it was decided that Peggy live with her father in England whereas Sharon had still been baby enough to require her mother's physical presence. Occasionally Peggy felt like her mother hadn't loved her enough, which strained their relationship, but other days she thought her father loved her too much. All Peggy had wanted to do as a small child was make her father proud, an urge borne of gratefulness that he hadn't abandoned her the way her mother seemingly had. Of course, he'd died when she was fifteen and the last three years of her education had been spent in America. She'd joined the army because her dad had been in the army, even if they were countries apart. To this day Peggy didn't think Sharon, who chose a career in nursing, understood why Peggy hadn't been satisfied with safer career choices. Another wedge to drive between the two sisters.

“Ms. Carter?” The receptionist called.

“It's Miss,” Peggy corrected her as she marched herself towards the gynaecologists office, head first into a battle she was prepared to fight alone. This time she would do everything necessary to win.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to PeggyCartinelli31 who is my one comment and who I'm so grateful for! Thank you!!

“Any questions?” The obstetrician finished with. Peggy had just sat through what amounted to a forty seven minute lecture with intermittent probing both physically and mentally. The doctor had kindly taken the time to present both sides of the moral debate to her, how on one hand it was best to plan conception in advance, which Peggy took to mean she was being judged for having a one night stand (well, technically two one night stands), but on the other hand when the biological clock started ticking you couldn't wait too long before risk factors outweighed the likelihood of a successful pregnant, which Peggy decoded as 'you're old'. Peggy had been expecting one of these reactions, even though she was only thirty-two and hardly over the hill, but to endure both from the same person was particularly galling. 

“I'm a little nervous,” Peggy opened with, trying to ignore her misgivings about the doctor.

For her efforts she received a patronising smile accompanied by, “yes, all new mothers are. That's to be expected.” Peggy wondered if the woman had a desk calender with meaningless platitudes printed over pictures of cats or Scottish scenery. 

“Well, yes, but I mean more specifically because I miscarried previously.”

“Oh, I didn't see that in your notes... sorry, just let me...” Glassed were pushed up the doctor's nose as she squinted at her computer screen. Peggy did her best not to sigh audibly. 

“It was when I was twenty-two.”

“Oh? Ah, yes. I see. Well, we'll just have to be exceptionally careful this time. Pick up a prescription for some vitamins on your way out and make sure you call me if anything happens. Our next appointment needn't be until your twelve week scan.”

Peggy smiled, all teeth and red lipstick, and internally promised herself that the next time she saw this woman would be never, before shaking her hand and leaving the clinic with only one piece of truly useful knowledge; an approximate due date. She was looking at a September baby, the 26th the doctor estimated but it was only an estimate. 

Her phone rang out a high pitched tune that signalled an incoming call and Peggy answered it instinctively, cursing herself for not checking the caller ID when it turned out to be her sister.

“So you are alive!” Sharon greeted her wryly. In the background Peggy could hear the dishwasher whirring and the meowing of Agent 13, Sharon's black cat. 

“Yes, in one piece even. It's unlike you to call, is something the matter?”

“Saturday?”

“Is in three days?”

“Is mom's birthday. You'll be there, right?”

“Oh,” Peggy exclaimed, the syllable demonstrating perfectly that she had forgotten this annual occurrence was so close and that she didn't want her sister to realise this. In it's latter mission it failed miserably.

“Don't worry I can get you a gift for her.”

“Don't be silly, I'm perfectly capable of picking out a present for mum.”

“She hated the scarf you got her last Christmas.”

“Well in that case please, choose away. My budget is $150.”

“Done. I can get her some perfume and chocolates.”

“Since it's obvious I've forgotten, please remind me what the plan is?”

Sharon was smiling on the other end. “Meet me at mine, 10am sharp, and we'll go together. Unless you have a date? Please tell me that the cute dark haired man at your office has finally made a move?”

“Daniel? Um... well, it's complicated... and certainly not at the point where meeting of mothers is required. How about you? No Sarah?”

“We broke up.”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. How are you?” Sarah and Sharon had been together for eight months. Peggy had been sure that Sarah had been gearing up to propose over the festive season. 

“She wanted to get serious... and serious for her meant rings and babies.”

“Ah. I take it you wanted neither?”

“No, thanks!” Sharon laughed. “I'm not cut out for kids. Other people's are cute and all but I see moms come in the ward tearing their hair out with this overwhelming and all consuming fear... I just don't want to invite that into my life, that level of emotion, you know?”

“Y... yes. It must be... intense,” Peggy managed to stutter out the words, shaking off the memory of her own hospital visit. Twenty-two years old and not yet finished with her first term of enlistment. Miscarrying had probably been for the best, but Peggy had never been able to erase the sense of guilt that accompanied that thought. 

“Peggy? Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine. Look, we'll talk more when I see you on Saturday. Bye.”

“Bye, love you!” Sharon called down the line before disconnecting. Her sister was far more demonstrative than Peggy had ever been. Sharon always said it was because Peggy was 'too British for your own good', but Peggy's own theory was that Sharon was just more comfortable giving love because she had always been secure it would be returned. When their dad and Peggy had disappeared to the UK, Sharon had been eight months old. By the time she was old enough to feel the absence of a father their mother had already moved on with Jim, and Peggy doubted very much that Sharon had many memories from before she had been flower girl in their wedding. Peggy had always been certain her father loved her, she couldn't fault him for that, but he'd not been emotionally available to her. As soon as they landed back in England Peggy had been handed over to a nanny who provided for all of her practical needs until she was old enough to be shipped off to an all girls school. Perhaps things would have been different if her father hadn't passed away so suddenly when she was fifteen. Her whole life had changed, forced to leave behind friends and familiarity for a mother she had only known from photographs and birthdays cards. It wasn't much of a surprise that Peggy managed to get her mother the wrong present, all things considering. 

“Angie? You home?” Peggy called into her apartment upon arrival. New York was expensive and even pulling a salary as an Army reservist and a police woman for the last two years hadn't afforded her the luxury of living alone. Truth be told Peggy preferred it this way. She'd gone from an all girls boarding school in London where she was surrounded by the brattiest girls in the country, to living in a three bed house in the American suburbs with her little sister hanging on her every word, to the army where they slept ten to a room and camaraderie was encouraged because you wanted to know the people who had your back in the middle of enemy territory. The idea of living alone sounded suffocatingly lonely. She'd met Angie on her first week back when Sharon had insisted she stay at her place until she could find the right apartment. It had driven Peggy mad to be living with her sister once again. It wasn't the company, it was just that Sharon had no concept of personal space or quiet time. If she was home then there was always a track placing in the background, most often drum and bass or 80s pop, and she almost always had friends or girlfriends over. It hadn't felt like companionship, just... noise. Peggy loved having people around, but not when it was a constant string of strangers who thought they were being complimentary when they said she didn't look like she was in the army. No, Peggy had wanted to move out as soon as possible and Angie, who worked as a waitress, had served her coffee in a cafe while Peggy had been pouring over the flatmate wanted adds. They'd struck up an easy friendship and when Angie had admitted she was looking for a friend so she could move out of her mother's house it had been an easy choice to make.

“Uh huh, just picking out an outfit. Want to help?”

“What's it for? A date?” Peggy asked as she hung up her coat and eased of her heals. She loved wearing them but even better than the way her legs looked stretched by three inches was the feeling of aching relief when she set her newly freed foot down on the plush carpet of the reception room. 

“Even better, an audition,” Angie chortled at her own joke.

“That's brilliant, Angie. What's the part?” 

“Bank teller. Now, do I wear the skirt suit or the pant suit?” Peggy walked into her friend's bedroom to find Angie sat on her bed staring at the aforementioned clothing hanging on the wall opposite. Peggy hovered in the doorway and considered the question seriously.

“Is the director a man or a woman?”

Angie rolled her eyes. “What does that matter?”

“If it's a woman I say go with the pant suit, it's professional and fashionable. Men on the other hand generally feel uncomfortable when confronted by a woman dressed in what they still consider to be their clothes, and they prefer a skirt. Plus showing a little leg never hurt anyone.”

“It's a man,” Angie sighed. 

“Ah, skirt it is then. But... not that one,” Peggy pointed at the black skirt and matching jacket. 

“Why not!”

“Too severe. Come with me!” Peggy leg a reluctant but curious Angie into her own bedroom where she rifled through her own wardrobe and eventually brought out a charcoal grey skirt suit and a pale pink shirt that completed the feminine look. It was only a few months old and she doubted it would fit for much longer, the waistline of the skirt had no give in it and the jacket never had closed over Peggy's breasts as it was. 

“It's perfect,” Angie declared. “I promise I'll get to dry cleaned after!”

“Don't be silly. Keep it, and break a leg.” Angie kissed her on the cheek in thanks and hugged the suit to her.

“Thanks, sweetie. I'm really hoping this one works out since Kathy keeps threatening to cut my hours down at work. Hey, talking of which why are you home so early? Don't tell me Peggy Carter is playing hooky from work.”

“No, I had a doctor's appointment.”

Angie frowned in concern, her hand coming to press on Peggy's forehead in search of a fever. “You don't feel sick. What's wrong?”

“Nothing contagious, don't worry,” Peggy smiled, brushing off the interest. Her stomach twisted at telling another lie but she wasn't ready to tell anyone else, especially not after revealing all to the boys earlier on in the day. She had not prepared for things at home to feel uncomfortable.

“Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to come out for drinks with me and the girls but if you're under the weather....”

“Best not,” Peggy said, grateful for the excuse. She was famous for sharing a bottle of wine with Angie before setting off onto the dance floor. She never felt too old to be taking a spin around the club with Angie, even if her flat mate was five years her junior. 

“I could cancel? We could do chicken soup and pyjamas in front of a RomCom?” Angie offered sweetly.

“I fear I'm not long for the sheets. Please, enjoy yourself and have one for me. I just want to sleep it off before work tomorrow.”

“Well, if you're sure?”

“Positive. In fact I think I'll have a lie down now. See you later, Angie.”

“Feel better, hon!” Angie said as she vacated Peggy's room.

The weight of a hundred lies and a thousand things she had to do pressed upon Peggy with a sickening unease. She wasn't sleepy but felt compelled to crawl underneath her bed sheets. She closed her eyes just for a moment, promising just to pretend for a while that everything was going to be okay. When she opened them four hours had passed, but nothing else had changed.


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy was restless after her nap. She found herself dusting in unusual places wearing an overly large but fantastically warm jumper. Her fridge was rummaged through, she chucked out some questionable cheese and a plate of something Angie had cooked on Sunday before adding vegetables to her shopping list. She was working her way through the cupboards, using a chair to reach the highest corners, when a knock at the door startled her. 

“Angie, did you forget your key?” She asked as she unlocked the door and came face to face with a spray of yellow chrysanthemums. 

“I, uh, hoped we could talk?” Daniel said from behind the bright bouquet. 

“You brought me flowers?” Peggy floundered. “Why?”

“Invite me in, please. Don't make me have this conversation in the hallway of your apartment building.”

Peggy pulled the door open wider to allow Daniel to follow her inside. She noted the pronounced way he leant on his crutches and surmised it had been a long and exhausting afternoon that she had abandoned them too. Daniel had a tendency to push himself too hard, determined to prove himself just as hard working as any other cop despite his disadvantage. The station were lucky to have him, even if some of the smaller minded Neanderthals couldn't comprehend that.

“You know that yellow chrysanthemums mean 'slighted love' in Victorian Flower language?” Peggy asked, accepting the bouquet and searching the kitchen for a vase she wasn't sure she owned. In the end she found a rarely used glass tankard and trimmed the stems so they didn't fall out. It looked respectable enough to decorate the breakfast bar and she spared them one last look before meeting Daniel's eyes. He had a way of looking at her that was both intense and undemanding. A gaze she wanted to melt into but that allowed her to walk away without feeling like she'd scorned him. It was one of the reasons she'd accepted his request for a date. She had thought he was a safe choice for her, certainly someone she felt a physical attraction to and who had proven himself an amusing and interesting intellectual. She cared about him the same way she cared about all of her army unit and her precinct colleagues, with a gentle affection and a fierce determination not to see them end bloody and abandoned. Peggy hadn't thought it would go any further than that, but then she'd screwed up and it had changed everything.

“I know,” he smirked. “Good thing we're not in Victorian times.”

“Isn't it just,” she agreed ruefully, a hand coming to rest over her stomach. She was only eight weeks along and hadn't started showing yet but she found herself subconsciously touching her abdomen more and more since the test turned positive. Honestly she would have given herself away sooner rather than later if she hadn't come clean with the boys. 

“Peggy, I thought we had an understanding. I'm not here to yell or blame or accuse... I just need to understand. I wanted us to be on the same page, but it seems we were reading different books.”

“I guess we were. I know I haven't been fair to you. I truly didn't think your intentions were so... romantic, not until these last few weeks. I really have enjoyed our time together, Daniel,” Peggy promised. She didn't like the idea that she'd treated him unfairly. At the time she'd used her poorer judgement and slept with Jack she truly hadn't thought Daniel was in a position to be hurt by the action. How badly she'd judged not just his emotional involvement, but her own. 

“You're breaking up with me?”

“What?” Peggy shook her head, uncertain of how the conversation had so quickly escaped her grasp. “No... I... I just assumed...”

“You thought I was here to break up with you?” Daniel sounded matter of fact about it, but there was a hint of good natured mocking behind his words. 

“Well, you asked so nicely to be let in because you didn't want to do it in the corridor... I mean, I hoped it wasn't a proposal,” he winced and Peggy felt wretched. “– oh, god, Daniel I'm sorry! I didn't mean... what I meant was-”

“Don't worry I caught your meaning, and no I haven't come to break up with you or to propose. I genuinely just wanted to talk. Join me?” He asked, lowering himself carefully down onto the leather sofa angled towards the television. Peggy thought the least she could do was sit with him and hear him say his piece. 

“Is that why you told us today? Because you realised I liked you more than you thought I did?”

“No, I... I wanted to be fair. At first I was going to wait until after the first trimester was over but... I didn't want to lie to you. It's bad enough lying to everyone else but I guess with them I'm used to it.”

“Why?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious. 

“Ever since I came back from Iraq I felt like I had to lie to people. They ask you how you are and they don't want to know the truth. No one wants to hear that you jump at the sound of a car backfiring or that you can't really fall asleep because you think that any minute you're going to be called on. You and Jack are the only ones I feel understand me.”

“We were all in the war,” Daniel nodded his understanding. On some level Peggy knew he felt the same way. It was why he gravitated towards Jack even though Jack was cantankerous, mean spirited and bloody rude. A brothers-in-arms deal to ignore the irritating bad habits of each other in order to believe that they have your back as much as you have theirs. We're all in this together, boys and girls. 

“We all survived,” Peggy corrected him. “But what we are now isn't who we were before.”

“Do you feel the same way about Jack as you do about me? I'm not saying I know what you feel, I just want to know if it's an equal feeling.”

“Equal... maybe, but not the same. Jack is far more frustrating than you are. His walls are higher. I feel like if I ever tried to climb them I would only end up plunging to my death on the other side,” she admitted, unaware of what she was exposing to Daniel.

“And I'm...?”

Peggy smiled gently. “You gave me a ladder to climb. I do appreciate it. Your friendship means a lot to me, Daniel, and I hate the idea that I hurt you.”

“I'm not going to lie and say it didn't sting,” Daniel told her straight. “And It's going to take some time for me to adjust... just... want do you want? You want to continue on as we have been? Just you and me? Or do you think that's a bad idea.”

“Do you want to stay the night?” Peggy blurted out. It wasn't necessarily the most sensible thing to suggest but she longed for the intimacy of bed-sharing. She couldn't imagine turfing Daniel out after this conversation, uncertain of where they both stood in their relationship. Morning light had a way of clarifying things that dusk muddied and blurred. 

“Are you sure?”

“I'd like it if you held me as I slept.”

“I'd like that too.”

Peggy stood up and held her hand out to him. “Come on then.”

“We are going to talk about this eventually, right?” Daniel asked, sharp enough to realise she'd dodged all of his attempts to pin her down for answers. 

“Definitely.”

Daniel left his coat in the living room and followed Peggy into her room. It was barely nine pm and she hadn't eaten since breakfast and strongly suspected he was the same but neither of them made mention of food or the hour as they undressed and slipped under the covers. Peggy moved into the warmth of his arms and rested her head against his heart, taking comfort in the steady beat beneath his chest. His hand came up to stroke her hair and he kissed her on the forehead. His gentleness was a balm for the stress of the day and all too soon she found herself falling asleep again. When she woke up to the persistent bleeping of her alarm he was gone, his side of the bed cold, and two cups of tea left abandoned by the door as if he had planned to wake her but something had called him away. She reached for her cell; four missed calls from Jack. 

“Fuck,” she swore softly under her breath. She took five minutes to shower and braided her hair in a neat and sensible style to hide the fact she hadn't taken the time to plat it. Her uniform went on and she grabbed a blueberry muffin for the journey to work before trying to call Jack back. No answer. She was worried.

The station was a buzz when she arrived. Nearly ever on-call member of staff was there, plus a few extras. She waded through the crowd to reach Jack who was briefing a small group of officers. When he saw her he pointedly ignored her to continue his briefing. She would accuse him of deliberately prolonging the experience except even Jack could be a professional when the situation called for it, and it certainly seemed that this morning fit the bill.

“Enjoy your lie in, Carter?” Jack finally acknowledged her with a dig that Peggy felt bruise her defences. She didn't take criticism of her work ethic lightly, especially not from Jack Thompson. 

“Sir, I'm on time for the working day. I apologise that I slept though your attempt to call me in sooner,” she exhaled sharply, adding, “how can I help?”

He shook his head at her, as if she had somehow disappointed him. Peggy resented the implication that she was inefficient at her job. “Just... just get the breakfast orders in, Carter. I don't have time to get you up to speed right now. There will be a meeting at 11:10, try and get caught up before that and maybe you will be able to help.”

Peggy was clearly dismissed, but she stayed around long enough to ask for his breakfast order and went about seeking answers elsewhere. Daniel was missing from the bullpen so she spotted Krzeminski and promised him extra bacon and a spoon of sugar in his coffee if he gave her enough information to get started on the case. He revealed that it was a kidnapping case. A mother had taken her daughter, four year old child, to the park when a commotion drew her attention away and next thing she knew her daughter was missing. She'd given a description of a man at the park; white, lean with shoulder length dark hair that looked a little greasy. He'd been gone when she noticed her daughter was missing. Peggy thanked him and sought out the next detective, who she promised a pastry to in exchange for the name of the park the mother had lost her daughter in. Finally she made it through the entire department and grabbed her bag to head out. She was hoping to place her order at the cafe then loop round to the park to ask some questions before picking the food up and heading back in time for the meeting. She was inches from the door when Jack called her over. 

“Yes, sir?”

“Carter, make sure you go to that nice little French place on 5th for the coffees. We're all working real hard on this and the team deserve a treat.” There was a gleam in Jack's eyes that said he knew about her little plan and was intent on thwarting her. 

“Of course, sir.” Peggy sighed. There was no way she could make it to the French coffee shop and to the park and still make it back in time for the meeting. She would just have to accept her fate as coffee girl for the time being.


End file.
